Garden flat



F. J. BALL GARDEN FLAT June 301936.

Original Filed Nov. 9, 1933 21" lek;

22W lL UNITED` STATES PATENT oFFIci-z-l GARDEN FLAT Francis J. Ball, Willow Grove, Pa.,assignor of two-thirds to Charles M.V Biddle, 3d, Riverton,

Reled for abandoned application Serial No'. 697,354, November 9, 1933. Thisfapplication October 9, 1935, Serial No. 44,243

10 Claims.

The object of ther invention is to provide improvements in garden flats, or that type'of boxes in whichseeds, seedlings and small plants are grown, and from which they are eventually dispensed or transplanted.

`As far as is known Vgarden flats have always been used in the form of shallow, generally rectangular boxes, without covers, and in these the seedlings and small plants have been grown initially in a single body of earth or loam, or into which seedlings and small plants have been transferred for shipment and dispensing, each such seedling or plant being independently rooted in individual containers. However, as the sides of these flats have always been xedly secured, great diiculty has been uniformly experienced in extracting the first few seedlings o-r plants from the flat, either from thel original soil body or in individual paper (Vor similar) pot-like container.

Another object therefore is to provide an improved flat -having lat least one side hingedly or oscillatably mounted, so as to permit its being 4easily raised at one end or both, or entirely `removed, in order to permit the ready removal of the first few seedlings or plants laterally from the flat, or in other words in a'direction substantially parallel with the bottom of the same, after which itbecomes an easy matter to remove from the flat the remaining articles,A irrespective of the Y position or even the presence of the movable side wall.

A further object is to provide in a device of this character, the combination of a flat having a movable. or removable side wall, in combination Y withia top closure or cover of glass and frame construction, said. cover being preferably angularly adjustable with respect to the remainder of the at, and also entirely removable therefrom if so desired, together with the provision of means to maintain said cover in any one of a plurality of temperature and other atmospheric conditions,l

includingfrost, humidity, Wind direction and intensity, etc.V

With these objects in mind, the invention com? prises further details of construction and operation, which are hereinafter fully brought out in the following description, -when'read in conjunc-y tion with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspectivevi'ew of'a garden flat 'comprising one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 344 of Fig. 2; y v

Fig. 5V is a side elevation of a somewhatmodilied forni of the device; Y

Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the same; and',

Fig. '7 is a front elevation of the same.

Referring to Figs. 1"to 4' inclusive, the improved flat comprises a bottom wall I, rear and side walls 10 Zand 3, respectively, xedly secured together, and afront wall ll, which is both oscillatable Vwith re' spect-topand'detachably supported by the forward end 'portions of said side walls;A Into each of thel forward surfaces 5 of said side walls 3 is secured 1,5

shown in Fig. 2, with the pin 'l extending thru the outer free portion of the slot 9, while the pin 6 vextends thru the inner end' portion of the other slot',` 8g' VIn order to release vsaid'forvvard wall sof thatr it can be oscillated angularly into a position such as that shown in Fig. l, or entirelyl removedffrom the remaining portions of the flat, said forward wall isrst shifted longitudinally intothe position indicatedV by the dot-and-dash lines in Fig. l2, after. which it may be oscillated about the pin lf asa pivot, since in this position the opposite end of said forward wall is entirely free from the pin '6.' After yassuming the position shown in Fig. 1,

which permitso'ne or more of the paper or other form of pot-likecontainers .l 0 .being readilyy with-V drawn.- horizontally from; said flat, said forward wall may then be shifteddiagonally outwardly in alignment with its own axis above and free from i thepin 6,'until 'the'sid'es ofthe slot 9rare in c'omplete disengagement from the pin '1. 'Thereafter-v a'dditionalcontainers maybe lremoved also hori zontally from the at, after which the remaining containers -H -of' the same or different sizes may be .removed either vertically, or horizontally, ordiagonally,as' may be desired, by lifting them directly` or by placing a troweljor thelike beneath i thernI` Obviously 'saidfront wall can be replaced' Referring now to Figs. 5,V 6 and 7, a slightly modified form ofY garden nat is shown as comprisv ing ajbottom wall I5, rear Wall-I6 and aV forward wall I1, said rear and forward walls being fixedly secured to said bottom wall. In additio'n,"either or both ofthe laterally opposite sides of said flat Y may be inclosed by a wall member- I8, which is ing with pins or the like 2I and 22, respectively,

' the same as hereinbefore described;H -The upper edge portions of the saidwalls I8 preferably, slant l5 downwardly as they progress forwardlyto provide normal supporting surfaces 23 ,for the laterally opposite edge portions 24 of a frame 25 containing glass or other formY of light-admitting and diffusing sections 26. v

The rear edge portionY 21 of said frame'25 is?- provided with one ormore hooked or other suitable formV of. fixturesV 28, which interengage with Yeyelet fixtures 29, secured to said rear wall I6,it

' being'obvios in this construction that the frame 25:V 25,` while normally resting uniformly upon the rear, front and side walls of the flat, in order to provide a cover and closure therefor, may be elevated angularly into anyone of a plurality of vertically adjustable positions, asV indicated by the dot-and-dash lines 30, and secured in the Y desired angular. position by engagement of a pin or lug 3|, carried by the forward free edge portion of such closure, with anyone ofthe apertures 32 in a linkv 33,'"or'other form of support, the

.V35Y Yopposite'end portion of which latter is pivotally Y ving and removal if VVdesired of either or both of thesaid walls I8 permits the horizontal removal ofV Vthose seedlings or plants first to be removed from within `the flat, and in addition thereto Y vpossesses all of :the desirable characteristics of any` cold frame, miniature hot-house, and equivalent `'devices for the germination and growth of seeds, and for the forcing and protec- Y tion-of seedlings," before the season progresses 'suiiiciently to permit seedlings to be transplanted into the open ground with safety.

from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be Yconsidered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, .reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoingrdescription to indicate the'scope of the invention.

Having thus described VVmy invention whatvI ,claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Y Patentis: Y, `1.A garden flatcomprising a pair of oppositely positioned walls, awallnormally extending betweenv s aidrst walls, means `to pivotally connect 707;,said last wall jwith one of'said first walls, and meansrtou oscillatably connect said `wall with the other of` said i'lrstrwalls. Y Y Y y 2. A garden flat, comprising apair of oppositely Ypositioned Walls, aV wall normally extending be- 75;, g; tween said vlirst walls'and provided with slots eX- tending inwardly from its opposite ends, and pins carried by said rst walls and normally extending thru said slots to secure said connecting wall to said iirst walls, and permit oscillation of said last-mentioned wall with respect to said first walls 5 until free from engagement with one of said first walls, after which said last-mentioned wall is adapted to swing with respect to the other of said rst Walls in a plane perpendicular to said first y lo provided `at itsoppositeV ends with relativelyshort VLwalls. 10V

and long slots YI!) and 20, receiving and cooperat-` Y Y 3..Argarden flat, comprising arpair of ppositely positioned walls, a wall normally extending be,- tween said first walls and provided with slots extending inwardly from its opposite ends, one ofv said slots being of greater length thanV theY other 15 slot, and pins carried vby said first walls and e normally extending thru said'slots to secure said connecting wall Yto said Yirst walls, and permit Yoscillation of said last-mentioned wall with respect vto said first walls until the Vshorter vslot is 20 free from engagement with the pin carried'lby one of saidfirst walls,vafter which said last-mentioned f Wallis adapted to Vswing with respect to-the other of said iirstwalls in a plane perpendicular to Y seid erst wells, about a pivotV defined by 1the otnerjzs; Y'

pin extending thru ashifted positionin Ythe longer of said slots. f. n i

4. A garden-flat, comprising apair of sidewalls VConnectedlbya bottom wall, a frontgwall normally extending between the forward portions of, said 30:25

side walls, a pin secured to the forward portionv of each of said side walls, and slots in the opposite endportions of said Vfront wall thru which said pins normally extendone of said slots vhaving an open emite-permit the escape of one ofthe pins 355C therefrom, assaid front wall is shiftedsubstantially longitudinally in the planecommonto said,

sidewalls, a pin secured totheforward portion 45 of each of said side walls, andv slots in the opposite end portions Vof said front wall thru which said pins normally extend, the ends of said slots being open, to; permit the r4escape of one of the pins.-

therefrom, as said front wall is shifted substan- 50i tially longitudinally in the plane common to said` side walls, after which said front wall isy free'to Y Vbeshifted angularly in a plane angularlyrdisposed i with respect to that which is common to said side Y Walls, aft h' h e. 55j; jI am aware that the mvention may be emV` er W 1C Sa'ld front Wan 1S free t0 be bodied in otherA specific forms without departingdetached from the other of saidpins by'longl- Vtudinal movement oi'rsaid-.front'wall past said iirst pin.V l Y,

6. A garden nat, lcomprisinga forward and a.

. rear wall, each Vof which is provided Vin its ends 6? with pins, side Walls, each'of Awhich is provided Vwith slots thrufwhich saidrpins normally extend# each side wall adapted to be shifted longitudinallyV` upon one pin untilV it disengages theother pin, afterlwhich that sidewall canbeoscillated'upon' the'iirstvpinr until out o'alignrnent with thefsec- Vond pin, afterV which that sidewall can be shifted Y 651il A after which that side wall can be oscillated upon the first pin until out of alignment with the second pin, after which that side wall can be shifted longitudinally free from the first pin, and a cover pivotally connected to one of the front and rear walls and normally resting upon the other of said rst-named walls and upon said side walls.

8. A garden flat, comprising a forward and a rear wall, each of which is provided in one of its ends with a pin, and a side wall provided in its ends with slots opening generally away from each other and thru which slots said pins normally extend, said side wall adapted to be shifted longitudinally upon one pin until it disengages the other pin, after which said side wall can be oscillated upon the iirst pin until out of alignment with the second pin, after which said side wall can be shifted longitudinally free from the iirst pin.

9. A garden nat, comprising a forward and a rear wall, each of which is provided in one of its ends with a pin, and a side wall provided in its ends with slots opening generally away from each other and thru which slots said pins normally extend, said side wall adapted to be shifted longitudinally upon one pin until it disengages the other pin, after which said side wall can be oscillated upon the rst pin until out of alignment 5 with the second pin, after which said side wall can Vbe shifted longitudinally free from the first pin, and a cover pivotally connected to one of the front and rear walls and normally resting upon the other of said last-mentioned walls and upon l0 said side wall.

10. A garden at, comprising a pair of walls iixedly connected by a third wall, a fourth wall normally extending between said pair of walls and being provided with slots in its opposite ends. 15 one of which slots opens thru an edge portion of the wall, and a pin carried by each of said pair of walls and normally extending thru said slots, said slotted wall being movable upon one pin until said last-mentioned wall is free from 20 the other pin, after which that wall can be shifted free from the first pin.

FRANCIS J. BALL. 

